Natale di Angeli
by MadlyMagical
Summary: "Forever," Late Christmas fic.


_Christmas of Angels._

i.

"Hey,"

The evening sky was dark grey with thick clouds looming. The silhouettes of trees are darker than usual, creating a cold aura for the area. The chilly winter wind was blowing against the nine-year-old boy's body when he stopped shuffling his cards to turn at her voice, making him shiver lightly. The speaker was a girl two years older than him who was wearing layers of clothing thicker than he was. She had her hands on her back.

The Wilderness School they were sent to was located near the woods, which itself also located by a cliff so it was really dangerous to come out there on winter where the soil became slippery. But he didn't care. As long as he got to be away from those kids who called him names he didn't even understand, he's okay with those dangers and frostbite.

"Playing Mythomagic again, aren't you?"

"How did you find me, Bianca?"

Bianca di Angelo smiled and she sat beside her younger brother. There was snow on her long hair that wasn't covered by her trademark green cap. "By magic of course, that's how we always find each other, aren't we?"

He suppressed a cheeky smile at her silly answer. "Why did you come here?"

"What brought you here then?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon Bianca…"

Bianca's eyes showed genuine concern when she answered her _fratellino_'s question. "They called you names again?"

"I don't care about them, Bee,"

His tone showed bitterness at the end. He was never a good liar.

She scooted closer to her little brother, putting her arm around his slightly smaller frame. He leaned deeper to her touch, seeking for Bianca's never-ending warmth. His eyes went glassy. He loved her so much.

"Useless, useless tears," she cooed him while wiping his tears.

"No matter what, Nico, I will always be there for you, forever,"

Nico di Angelo smiled genuinely. It was a rare smile where his left dimple showed and his dark eyes sparkled. Bianca hugged him closer.

Her other hand produced a jar of cookies from her back. She made them herself, only to share with her dearest baby brother. "Wanna eat some cookies?"

There was that smile again. "Sure!" he said cheerfully.

Among munches and gulps of sweet cookies, Nico managed to turn at his elder sister and said "Merry Christmas, Bee,"

Bianca grinned. "_Buon Natale, caro frattelino,_"

ii.

"Hey,"

A ten year-old boy, soon to be eleven, stood by the huge junkyard. Well, huge wasn't the right word to describe this junkyard. The right word was massive, endless, _godly_ even.

_Yeah, godly._ Nico thought bitterly to himself.

Bianca di Angelo's warm smile appeared in his mind. The taste of her chocolate cookie, the feeling of her arm on his back, her warmth… all flooded to his memory. He closed his eyes to prevent the tears from coming out.

"Bee…"

He went down the junkyard, hoping to find any trace of Bianca ever being here. The cold air bit on his not well-covered body. He gripped the figurine on his palm tighter, hoping to find warmth there. None.

The junkyard was not a junkyard for Nico. There were things that sparked his interest like shiny weapons, disfigured robots, half-functioning machine, and he swore he saw a half-molten gold there. In fact, he was sure he would love this place if only…

If only this place didn't take his _sorella_ away from him.

From the first time he heard about the quest (from a drying corpse, nonetheless), he already had a bad feeling. So, when his dearest Bee was chosen to be on the quest he was terrified to the core and hurriedly make Percy Jackson promise to take care of his sister.

That wretched son of Poseidon.

He picked up a glinting black sword. It was cold, even colder than the air around them, as if it has its own life that was colder than ice itself.

He stared at his reflection on the sword's cold surface. Unkempt black hair, pale olive skin, wild, dark eyes. He looked nothing like Bianca except his hair and skin color. She is light, he is darkness. She is _his_ light to balance the darkness that dwells inside him. Now she's gone…

His breath was white as he raised the figurine on his other hand. The black figurine, which has lifeless eyes, malicious smile, and cold surface. The figurine, which disturbingly looked like its holder so much. The figurine of his newly discovered father, the god of Underworld and Riches. The figurine that took his sister's life.

He didn't put the sword back when he ran outside the junkyard, as if daring for the huge robot that had killed Bianca to follow him and kill him, too.

But there wasn't any clanking sound of a robot's joint, hurried footsteps, or angry roar which indicates something chasing him. In fact, there wasn't any sound except for his ragged breathing. Everything was silent, like an apology from the blacksmith, or maybe even from the ol' dead god himself.

Then he realized that the robot was nothing but a pile of real junk now, because of Bianca. She had protected him… again.

He straightened himself and turn back to see the junkyard and check. It seemed like a normal junkyard, except for its size.

He had forgotten, yes, _forgotten_ to search for any trace of Bianca while he was drowning in sorrow. He laughed, then quickly stopped. His laugh disturbed him by its emptiness that bordered to madness.

He felt a single tear slid on his cheek. Has he gone crazy? Maybe yes. He felt like laughing again now, but couldn't find the strength to do so. Instead, he began searching for any useful things at the border of the junkyard.

He picked a dusty piece of cloth, which he later found out was a sword sheath, and a small dagger that he put in his sock.

He felt so old. Just one week ago, he was laughing with his new friends at the Hermes cabin, the first time he feel belonged. And only four days ago, Percy told him that Bianca…

Sorrow once again embedded itself on his chest. But instead of crying ("Useless, useless crying," Bianca once said.), he shouted at the top of his lungs, letting all the locked feelings out in three simple words he so longed to say to her.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS BIANCA!"

No one answered back.

iii.

"Oi Nico,"

The son of Hades glanced from his coke to the newcomer. The new Hero of Olympus smiled at him. "Mind if I sit here?"

"No," he said simply. After _her _death, after he found out he was a Greek demigod son of the almighty God of Underworld ("Hail Hades!" he thought sarcastically.), he became 'that-death-guy-who-is-so-great-he-doesn't-want-to-talk'. He scurried away that thought and made a place for Percy to sit on the bench. They sat in silence for a few moments; Nico gulping down is coke and Percy staring at the ground as if it was an interesting new specimen.

"Nico,"

He turned to look at him, giving him permission to continue.

"Well…" he said quietly. "How to put this, um…"

"Just say it already Percy," he was mentally rolling his eyes at the green-eyed teen.

Percy scratched his hair. "Today was the anniversary of her death, isn't it?"

Ouch. He didn't want to talk about it.

Curse him if he wasn't spending his time all day thinking about it. He wanted to keep her as a sweet memory, not a bitter one. Remembering her death making it the old wound hurt and bleed again.

More awkward silence.

Nico was silently grateful for the cap border so the winter air didn't torture him like it used to. Now the air was cool and nice, making his breath went silvery. The snow below his feet was nice and white, and it imprints his and Percy's footstep here. He even could see small green plants sprouting from the white snow.

He looked at the dining hall. Everybody was eating, talking, pranking… everything. And they looked happy. Unlike a few months ago when they looked depressed from the war. Bianca would love to see them like this.

"I'm sorry,"

He turned to Percy in confusion and by reflex said "What for?"

Then realization dawned on him "Oh…"

He felt responsible for her death. He felt he was failing Nico. He felt guilty.

Nico remembered when he told him Bianca was dead a few years ago. He was trying to apologize, but he kept shouting accusations at him and ran away before he could explain anything. The guilt must be gnawing at him until now.

Nico himself couldn't say he has forgiven Percy for that matter. Sure, he had gained his trust on the Labyrinth. He had taken care of him. Now he viewed Percy as the older brother he never had. But for this…

"Percy, it's not your fault," he said, not surprising only Percy but himself, too.

He opened his mouth again. "Sure you had failed protecting her, but it wasn't your fault she died,"

Percy opened his fault to say objection, damn that fatal weakness of him, but he continued. "It was her own choice she died, not anyone else's,"

He let the words sink in. He realized they were true, and he had known it all along, only refusing to believe it.

Then Percy grinned so wide he thought his face would be split. "Thanks Nico,"

He hopped from the bench, and to Nico's surprise, picked Nico's plate and glass while saying "Race to the dining hall! Annabeth is already waiting," he gestured to the blonde smiling at him, no, both of them.

He marched to his girlfriend, leaving Nico with no choice but to follow him. But when he started to sprint, something caught his eye, causing him to stop. There was a movement in the woods, to be precise, a doe's movement.

Nico rarely saw a doe in the forest. The doe was beautiful with its soft fur and big eyes. Big, warm brown eyes. Like Bianca's.

He smiled at the doe and whispered "Merry Christmas, Bianca," even though it wasn't Christmas yet.

He swore he saw the doe's eyes smiling back at him when he ran to follow Percy.

iv.

He was shocked to death (figuratively, of course) when he found her.

He hadn't heard of another Hades', well, Pluto's child other than him and Bianca on the World War I. But he found _her_ curling on the corner of Asphodel. Her eyes so filled with sorrow that he came over to her, then shocked when he realized she was his half-sister of underworld.

Literally.

She has curly brown hair and golden eyes and tanned skin and she looked _nothing_ like Bianca but she was his sister too, so he brought her back to upper world, guiding her and taking care of her like Bianca would. She even said she _loves _him but he kept repeating in his head _notlovenotlovelnotlove_ because Bianca said she _loved_ him too.

And she left.

"Hey Nico…"

He had woken up screaming.

He still remembered that hellhole. The hole they all called _Tartarus_ but now he called it _hell, torture chamber_. He still remembered the awakening of all bad memories he tried to bury, but the torture there had them rose to the surface, and torture him all over again. He remembered his father's disappointment look ("Not anymore, he's not like that anymore,"), he remembered the deaths he saw at the war ("They're free now… _freefreefree_,"), he remembered Bianca's last words to him.

"_I love you,"_

That got him thinking. What happened to always? What happened to forever? He hurriedly pushed that thought away. But it kept coming back, again, again, again…

No, he thought to himself_. I'm not there anymore. I'm safe. I'm with my friends…_

His door creaked open, letting a small whiff of wintry air coming inside his room. Hazel Levesque went in. Her curly hair got snowflakes, and she was shivering.

"How did you come in?"

"It seemed…" she said while taking off her coat. "You forgot to lock the door,"

He cursed to himself. He got off his bed and opened the door, looking around the snowy landscape before finally closing the door again.

"Why don't you knock first?"

She looked at him, annoyed. " Well I was knocking for half an hour, but I think you're sleeping so deep that you don't realize,"

"You came here alone?"

"Yeah," she was rummaging her pocket now. One of her many pockets. "Where the hell did I put it…"

"Why did you come here in the middle of the night? You could have stayed back there and you won't have to be cold,"

A flash of hurt crossed Hazel's eyes before she quickly replaced it with a smile. "It's Christmas, Nico," she continued digging her pockets when she finally found what she had been searching. It was a small red box with black ribbon on it. She gave it to him. "Merry Christmas, Nico,"

He was taken aback. She came here, against the time and weather, only to wish him a merry Christmas.

"Uh… Thank you, Hazel,"

She smiled brightly. "Open it,"

The fourteen-year-old boy undid the ribbon and picked the lid up. Inside it was a… pendant?

Hazel was shifting on her feet when he finally picked the pendant and caressed the oval-shaped pendulum with his thumb. He opened it with a small click, and his eyes widened.

Inside were two photos. One on the left lid, and one on the right lid. The one on the left was from a few months ago, and it has Hazel herself, Frank, him (which was dragged by Hazel), Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and Leo. They were smiling happily, with Percy had his arm around Annabeth, Hazel hugging Nico, Jason and Piper holding hands, and Leo even went as far as getting his hair singed. All was so good after the war.

Meanwhile on the right lid was…

"_Tell me about your sister,"_

_He was surprised by her exclamation. He mumbled about something like not wanting to discuss it now but she kept looking at him with __**those**__ big golden eyes, so he pulled a picture from his wallet._

_Bianca di Angelo was always so beautiful, especially with her hair in a ponytail, without her green cap, and holding a dandelion on her hand. She looked like nothing could faze her at that moment, and he would like to remember her that way._

"_She's so beautiful," his other sister said. Then he proceeded to tell her a story about a girl who once said she loved him, but left._

He felt tears at the corner of his eyes. He blinked to make them disappear. "Hazel…"

She hugged him. In spite of being frosted just a few minutes ago, she was still warm. She smelled of cinnamon, of spring flowers, of freshly baked cookies he loved. She mumbled something to his shoulder that he couldn't hear, then whisper to his ear. "Next time when you're having dream of Tartarus, call me,"

He decided not to ask how she knew it was the hole he was dreaming of.

She pulled away from him, still holding his hands. "Well, maybe I've got to tell Chiron first about my arrival, then I'll come back here, okay?"

"Okay,"

Still being cold as ice, she accepted his offer to shadow travel her there. He waited for her outside the big house.

The big house was decorated by the Demeter cabin a few weeks ago. It has green and red-colored lights and a Christmas tree inside. There were even beautiful vines with tiny flowers, indicating the Demeter's work.

The illuminating lights reflected on the smooth surface of the pendulum. Nico stared at it, smiling to himself. His thumb travelled on the backside of the oval, when he felt something engraved there.

_It must be Vulcan's children work, then. _He laughed at the irony. The robot who had taken Bianca away from him was also Vulcan's work.

It was words that were engraved beautifully there. Three words, eight letters, only for him.

_I love you._

He felt warm inside, like when his sister held him. Just now, or four years ago.

He felt a smile formed on his lips. He took a deep breath, and let it out in three words also.

"Merry Christmas, Bianca,"

v.

The place was too crowded for his liking.

The snow was crunched beneath those feet, laughter and chattering rose to the atmosphere. He was being pushed and pulled by the crowd, and was soon separated from his group.

He stared up at the big Christmas tree.

The lights were colorful, many ornaments, and a huge star on top. Typical. People were taking photos by the tree, and there were even teenagers who pickpocket the ornaments. One of them was trying to pick a red glass ball when Nico glared at him, and his glare terrified the poor boy as far as sending the boy running away for his mommy.

He was fighting his way out of the crowd now. Heck, he didn't even feel cold because of the crowd. A man stepped on his toe. A redheaded girl accidentally elbowed him on the ribs.

With curses and 'ouch's , he finally came to a relatively safe place near a cafe and scanned for any signs of sea-green eyes, blonde hair, freckled face, or the hideous long green coat (who else but Rachel).

He waited there for five long minutes when his twenty-year-old ADHD body started to kick in and walked around to search for his friends. He hadn't gone for ten feet when a childish female voice called him.

"Hey!"

He turned around to see the caller. "You're calling me?"

She nodded enthusiastically, her shoulder-length wavy brown hair bobbed along the movement. "Yes, you!"

He rolled his eyes inwardly. What does this child want?

She walked to him. "Do you want some cookies?" She asked, holding a tray full of cookie jar there. "I made them myself!"

He looked to a shop near them. "Maries' Cookies".

He pointed to the shop. "Is that where you come from?"

"Yeah!" her bright blue eyes shone.

"Well I'm kinda in a hurry so…"

"Oh c'mon please! I'll even give you a taste!" she looked at him with those pleading blue- warm, caring blue eyes…

_Dammit, she couldn't be more than seven years old. And she's freezing. _He thought.

"Oh okay fine," he sighed, pulling his wallet. The girl jumped happily. He handed her the money and she gave him a jar of cookie.

He was walking away when she called him for the second time.

"Hey!"

He wanted to be annoyed at her, but looking at the toothy grin she gave to him, his annoyed feeling melt away like snow at spring.

There were snowflakes on her hair, and she looked cold, but the brightness of her eyes and smile didn't falter. She kept holding the cookie tray with so much force.

"What's your name?"

He looked at her suspiciously. A cute girl holding a cookie tray could be a monster, after all.

But he didn't sense any monster nearby.

"Nico, Nico di Angelo…" he answered slowly.

She scrunched her eyebrows. "Di Angelo?"

"Excuse me?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing… it was just a beautiful name…"

To his annoyance, he could feel a blush creeping on his cheeks. "Thanks…"

"I'm Mariah, nice to meet you, Nico!"

He stifled a chuckle. "Mariah Marie?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, it's nice to meet you too, Mariah, now I really have to go…" he turned around, only to be stopped again.

"Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Well… I offered you my cookie because you looked lost, so whenever you're lost again, you can always come to me! I'll forever be here for you,"

She grinned wider than before. She pointed at him."Or if you're not here, Nico, I will always find you, by magic!"

His breath left him.

_The Lethe River, yes she was brainwashed, she got reborn, but she's still her._

He felt like he was sucked to a time-turner and back to that time… ten years ago. Those warm eyes. Those cookies. The… magic.

"_No matter what, Nico, I will always be there for you, forever,"_

"_Sorella…_"

"Merry Christmas Nico!"

Then she was gone. His eyes never leaving her small figure. He stood there for gods know how long when a hand patted his shoulder.

"Hey Nico,"

It was Hazel. He offered her a small smile. "Hey…"

She looked at him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said. "Well then, let's go to the others,"

Hazel nodded and she went back to the crowd. Nico trailed after her. But then stopped when he saw a flash of brown hair and yelled. "Merry Christmas to you too Mariah!"

Then, quietly to himself. "_Buon Natale_, Bianca,"


End file.
